Syrian held in Germany over Berlin ‘suicide attack plan’

German police have arrested a Syrian teenager suspected of planning a suicide attack in Berlin.

The suspect, 17, was arrested in the Uckermark, a district in Brandenburg, the state’s Interior Minister, Karl Heinz Schröter, announced.

He entered Germany in 2015 and sought asylum, police said. Details of the alleged plot were not released.

In December, a jihadist killed 12 people with a lorry at a Berlin Christmas market.

That attack by Anis Amri, a Tunisian, put security services under intense scrutiny because of the way in which the attacker, who was later shot dead by police in Italy, evaded their surveillance and crossed European borders undetected.

Special forces arrested the Syrian teenager after police received a tip-off, Brandenburg police tweeted (in German).

The suspect had been living in a home for unaccompanied underage refugees in Uckermark since 2016 and had never before come to the attention of police.

He is currently being questioned and the home is being searched by the state criminal investigation office, Brandenburg police said. Continue reading.